Once A Mossad Always Paranoid
by Rae Stone
Summary: She knew when she wrote him that email that she would have to face what came with resigning. She knew better than anyone that no one walked away from Mossad easily. But she didn't realize that they would play with her, or that they would kill him first.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine, and not stealing... just airing them out a bit.

Author's Note: AU, starts in season 7, probably after Faith...I guess.

Please R&R I do enjoy it.

**Once Mossad, Always Paranoid**

**Chapter 1**

It was a quiet day around the office, no new cases, which meant that Tony was going to be extra annoying. That was the last thing that Ziva needed, she thought as she rushed through Security, late. Although she did have to hand it to him, he wasn't nearly as annoying as he used to be. Somalia had caused him to grow up. A lot. As it had McGee. Neither of them had deserved what they had gone through, not for her.

But what was done was done and she couldn't change it. Not that she wanted to. Being with these people made her realize something that she never had a chance to learn with Mossad. She was more than just an agent and a weapon. She was a person of value. She was worthy of having a life--not just to be ready for death.

That had changed her. Somalia had taken some of that from her, but the memory of it stayed with her through the torment. She remembered telling McGee that a trained interrogator could break a man like Gibbs in a matter of hours or days. She had lasted months. Looking back, she wasn't quite sure how she had managed it. Only that she had and that now, months later, she was still tired from the effort.

Nightmares of torment filled her nights, making her take comfort in the fact that she knew how to hide the bags that were becoming fixtures on her face. Somalia, Michael, her sister, Ari, Jenny… death and torment were never far from her when she closed her eyes. Some nights were easier, and she knew she had her friends to thank for that.

It brought her comfort to know that they were there for her. That they were willing to pull her back from the nightmares. No matter how dark they got. But she doubted that they could save her from the new darkness in her life--the nightmares that were starting to come while she was still awake. Being Mossad meant that she knew what they meant. Being Mossad meant that she had done the same to agents who tried to leave. But being NCIS she knew that no one else there would understand. But she would have to tell them. They again would have to save her.

And as her phone started to ring, and she saw the all too familiar name and number show on her call display, she really wished she could save herself.

---

Tony cocked his head to the side as he looked at his magazine. Gibbs was in a meeting with Vance and the look on his face as he left told the senior field agent that he had at least fifteen minutes to goof off before his return. That had been ten minutes ago. Tony looked up at the familiar 'ding' that told him that one of his two late comrades were coming to join him. It was McGee.

"Don't say it," the writer warned, glaring down at the older man, "I'm not in the mood."

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the typewriter this morning. What happened?"

"Family issues, nothing for you to worry about."

Looking Tim over, and being bored from being left alone for so long Tony stood and wandered over to his friend and co-worker's desk, "And by family, do you mean…sister?"

"Tony…"

He smiled, knowing from McGee's tone that he was right, "And what did the littlest McGee do this time? She's not wanted for murder again is she?"

"No DiNozzo, she isn't."

"Then what is it? Are you going to be an uncle?"

McGee sighed, "She's been abusing Aderall. It helps increase focus and attention span to help increase your grades."

"But I thought she was a little genius like you."

"She is. The stress of her program is getting to her. I found her OD'ing on my doorstep last night. But, she'll be fine and she's seeing a councillor. Where's Ziva?"

"Later than you," Gibbs said, right on time, when he strolled in.

"How do you do that?" Tony asked, moving to his desk.

"Tony, call her."

"No need Boss," he replied at the 'ding', "She's here. She also looks like hell." He finished with a concerned look.

She glared at him, throwing her things down beside her desk. Before she could say anything, however, Gibbs was on his feet, "Don't get too comfortable. We have to meet Ducky at the gate."

"Gate Boss?"

"Another dead body."

Tony glanced at McGee, "Gotta love it when they deliver."

"They even left a 'deliver to' name this time DiNozzo."

"Convienient. Whose it to?"

"Ziva."

---

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: see part one

**Once Mossad, Always Paranoid**

**Chapter 2**

"Jethro, perfect timing as usual," Ducky greeted when the field team approached him and Palmer, "I wish to tell you that I appreciate it when others delivering our bodies to us, but I find it greatly unnerving."

"What can you tell me Duck?" He asked as DiNozzo began taking pictures and McGee began 'bagging and tagging'. Ziva, having been asked to gather statements, stood stark still, looking at the body that someone felt necessary to send her.

"As of yet, not much. Body is burned, but we may be able to get samples to Abby to identify this poor woman. She's been dead at least 36 hours, there are signs that she may have been frozen."

"Boss, take a look at this," DiNozzo called, kneeling over the body, "We got jewelry. Star of David, two of them." He looked up, "One looks like Ziva's."

Her brow furrowed, as she watched Ducky take off the necklaces. "That cannot be, mine was taken in Somalia."

Tony held out the twin necklaces to her, allowing her to inspect them. From first glance she knew that her partner had been right, one of them was indeed hers, the inscription on the back made it official. Her father had given it to her when she joined Mossad. The other, similar in so many ways, he had given to...

Ziva sagged, her breath catching. No, it couldn't be. They wouldn't. Yes, she told herself, looking back to the body whose face was away from her, they really would.

"Ziva," Gibbs asked, looking at her carefully, "You know what's going on?"

"I hope not. Can I see her face?"

At Gibb's nod, Tony moved the burnt hair and adjusted the angle of the head ever so slightly, but it was enough. He could tell from the nose and chin and the expression on his partner's face, who this girl was. He just didn't know how it was possible.

She didn't say a word, but by the expression on her face Tony knew that he had it right. Cursing silently, he stood, "Its Tali, isn't it?"

She nodded.

Gibbs looked between them, his impatience showing through, "Who the hell is Tali?"

"My sister," Ziva told him, steeling herself.

"You said she died back in Tel Avi."

"She did, 12 years ago now. Gibbs, I cannot explain how she got here. But I promise, I thought she had died."

"We'll continue this inside."

---

"Want to talk about it?" Tony asked after the silence in the squad room became too much for him to bare. It was just him and Ziva. Gibbs was talking to Ducky and McGee had gone with the evidence to Abby whom he knew would be demanding to know everything that happened.

"No."

He looked around, stepping behind her desk, "Will you do it anyway? Consider it taking your statement."

"Do you think I had something to do with this?"

"Your necklace was found at the scene and your sister's body turns up 12 years after you think she blew up in a suicide bombing? You know what Gibbs thinks of coincidences Ziva."

"So you think I am behind this." She gave a sad nod, looking away from him.

"I didn't say that. I trust you. We all trust you. Its just that having you be behind this is a lot easier than the alternative."

"Which is?"

"That someone is playing with you." He watched her carefully, his gut tightening at the slight flicker in her eye, "They are, aren't they? Who is it?"

"Tony..."

He shook his head, "No, you aren't doing this. You aren't pushing us away until we're up to our nuts in trouble. You aren't fighting us on this one. Whatever you aren't telling us will come out. If its something that is going to hurt one of us or you, it would be better if you just told us now. It will save us all pain and loss later on."

"I do not know what is going on Tony!"

"Lie. You may not know all of it, but I'm guessing you have a pretty good idea."

"All I have is suspicion. Nothing more. I have no facts beyond the impossible. Long dead bodies and lost necklaces and voices from the dead..."

"What voices?"

"DNA test confirms it," Gibbs called coming onto the pair, both standing as he sat down, "The body is Tali David. The Director is heading to MTAC now if you want to join him in giving the news to your father." He looked up, "Or would it not be news to him?"

She looked away from him, telling him what he already knew.

"Your father will want you to accompany the body?"

"Most likely. But I cannot. I cannot return to Mossad now." The look in her eye told Gibbs where words would fail, exactly why she could not return to the country of her birth—because if she did, they would never see her alive again.

"I'll make sure that you don't."

"What did Ducky say?"

"That the body is Tali's. That she probably died from a blast. Other than that is anyone's guest."

McGee approached the bull pen silently, looking at the scene before him with uncertainty. "Boss, Abby couldn't find any fingerprints on the necklaces, but she's looking into other leads and tests."

"Why didn't she tell me this?"

McGee didn't look up from the folder in his hand. He hated giving Gibbs bad news, especially when it concerned Abby. "Because she locked me out of the lab Boss. She says she's not coming out until she figures out how Ziva's necklace got from Africa to the body to here."

Just as they all knew he would, Gibbs got up with a curse and moved like a man possessed towards the elevator, intent on talking to his favourite goth leaving the rest in his wake struggling to know what to do next.

And then Ziva's cell phone rang. She froze where she stood, looking down at it. Tony, standing beside her, picked it up gingerly, gauging her reaction, before looking at the call screen.

He almost dropped it when he saw the screen; his mind replaying what she had said about voices of the dead. Now he understood exactly what she had meant.

McGee looked between them, "What is it?"

Swallowing hard Tony turned the phone around, allowing the writer to see who was making the call. And for someone who fancied himself a competent writer in the crime and suspense genre, the name that appeared was the last one he would have ever suspected...

"Michael Rivkin?"

---

TBC... promise


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't tell.

**Once Mossad, Always Paranoid**

**Chapter 3**

"Are you going to answer him?" Tony asked, eying Ziva as the phone started to ring again. "I doubt the dead give up easily."

She inhaled deeply, nodding between the two men. If she was going to face this, she was glad that she wasn't going to be alone. Even if she didn't want to tell the truth, even though she desperately wanted to ignore what was happening and push it away, like she had everything else, and even though she was going to fight having to tell it all, she was still glad that McGee was watching her back and that Tony was standing by her side.

"McGee, start the trace," Tony told the hacker, his eyes darting to Ziva's, "I'm going to put it on speaker. Ready?"

She nodded, exhaling the breath that she hadn't meant to hold, "As I will ever be."

"Shalom Ziva," the deep voice greeted, "Did you miss me?"

"Who are you?"

"You know the answer to that Ziva. Did you get my package?"

"Yes."

"You brought my brother to my door, I felt it only fair to return the favour."

"David."

"Very good Ziva."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Check your mail. I have sent you another present, sister." The line went dead.

McGee and Tony exchanged curious looks before Tony nodded, signaling to his friend to make the call to Gibbs before he looked to his partner once more, "Sister? Micheal's your brother?"

Ziva rolled her eyes, "No Tony."

"He didn't stay on the line long enough to trace him farther than the country," McGee told them, his fingers beginning their dance over the keyboard, "He's playing with us."

"Really McObvious? What was your first clue? The dead body at our doorstep?"

"Tony..."

"Check your mail," he snapped at Ziva, not looking at her, "Gibbs is going to be pissed."

She looked taken aback, "What does checking my mail have to do with anything?"

"He told you to check your mail," McGee informed her with more sympathy than the senior field agent., "Just don't open it without getting security to check it out."

"Yeah, wouldn't be the first time we got something unpleasent in the mail." Sighing, feeling at a loss, something that he hated as much as being ignored, Tony sat down at his desk, waiting to see just how angry his fearless leader was liable to get. Glancing at Ziva, he had a feeling that she was wondering the same.

---

Gibbs' jaw was clenched as he stopped outside the chrome door of the lab. Wishing for more coffee, something to occupy his hands with to divert his urge to wrap them around his scientist's neck, he settled for pounding on the door instead.

"Abby!" He shouted when she didn't answer right away. About to pound on the cold surface again, he was graced with the door opening and Abby sheepishly stepping aside.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Getting answers," she told him, as though the answer was obvious, shutting the door behind him. "No Caf-Pow?"

"Abby," he warned.

"I know what you are going to say Gibbs, and firstly, shame on you for using such language and second, I think I'm onto something."

His expression softened, "What do you got, Abs?"

She smiled, "Dirt, lots of it. Luckily hygiene isn't a top priority for desert living. Also have skin cells from the chain's clasp. Blood type matches Ziva's; waiting on DNA results to confirm it. My guess is they tore it from her neck with force."

"The dirt?"

"Going to take time to track. But from my preliminary work, soil composition shows at least three different types. Major Mass Spec. is working on it now."

"How long?"

"Three hours, and that's already taking every shortcut I know. I've just started work on the second necklace."

"Anything?"

"Not much. Time, being frozen and the blast stripped it free of almost any significant evidence. But I'm tracing the explosives using the date Ziva gave for her sister's death to see if I can locate a possible source. It may help since the body didn't go boom as it should have."

"Mossad trying to cover up an op?"

"Wouldn't be the first time they used less than happy means to do that." She was frowning, looking at the screen.

"You didn't have to lock the door Abs."

"Yes I did Gibbs. She's still there, in that hell. I can tell. She doesn't hug me back anymore. Not the same way."

"I know Abby."

"They're after her again?"

"Your gut?"

"My heart," she corrected, "I want her back. The way she was. I miss her."

"We all do Abby."

She studied him a moment, "Your gut?"

He almost didn't answer her, almost. But Abby knew, and when Abby knew something, there wasn't a force in the world that could stop her. She saw the good that still lived in all the team, even after they had long stopped seeing it for themselves. That's what Gibbs loved about her, her goodness, her light and her faith in happy endings. Even after they had long given up, she held on. And that's why he needed her—to believe in him—and that's why he would do whatever she needed to stay that way. Even if it meant telling her a painful truth.

"Why didn't she tell us?"

"Why don't you ever tell us things?" Her smiled faded under his watchful eye, "You think Ziva is lying?"

"She knows who's behind this. Her brother was a terrorist, her father killed without thought to further his plans..."

"She isn't like them. She's one of us."

He merely shrugged, as his phone started to ring. His gut told him that |Abby was right but it also told him that there was still a lot that Ziva was still trying to hide. "Yeah Gibbs."

"Hey Boss, you might want to come up here. You really aren't going to like this."

With a silent curse he slapped his cell phone shut and wished, again, as he stormed out of the lab, that he had a coffee. He had a feeling that he would be needing a lot of coffees before that day, and that case was done.

---

The Director was standing on the balcony when Gibbs entered the bullpen. Ziva was sitting at her desk, looking at an envelop, while Tony and McGee were busy at their desks. When no one made the move to talk, he looked at them, impatient, "Well?"

Exchanging glances, Tony stood, "Ziva received a call from Rivkin."

"He's dead."

"Then someone should tell him that. McGee couldn't trace it, and we haven't found any background on him or David."

"Whose David?"

"Someone's brother. He's the one who made the call." He glanced at Ziva, "He told Ziva to check her mail."

At this Ziva looked up, handing Gibbs the opened envelop, "This was delivered with this morning's mail."

"What is it?"

She looked away, "A farewell message... from Jenny Sheppard."

The bullpen fell silent as all eyes turned to Gibbs. "A what?"

"When we were on assignment together in Europe, an agent we both knew was killed in the field. He had left for us a video farewell, to say all the things that he could not say to us in life. It was an unusual concept but one that Jenny found appealing. To leave behind some truth after living so many lies. She made it seem like she would do what this agent had done and leave such messages after her death. When none came... I assumed that she had forgot."

"Is it genuine?"

"I have not checked."

He tossed the disk at McGee, "Put it up." He then looked up to the balcony, "Don't you think its time you shared?"

Frowning, the Director walked into the squadroom slowly, "I have finished talking to Director David."

"And he isn't surprised at his daughter's body showing up 12 years after her death?"

"Apparently they hadn't found her remains. He says he figured they would turn up some time. He spoke of relief at now knowing the fate of his only daughter." His eyes looked to Ziva, "You know what he mean by that?"

Ziva stood, fighting to keep calm, "It means that he has disowned me for dishonouring him."

"By leaving Mossad?"

"And other things he feels unforgivable."

"Uh Boss," MdGee broke in with an apologetic frown, "I have it ready. I'll also be running software here that can detect any alterations or additional levels. I'm also feeding it to Abby's lab for a more complete analysis."

"Run it."

On the screen was the study that had belonged to the Sheppard house, the one that had been burnt down in the house fire over a year before. Sitting in the aged leather chair, with a bourbon in hand, was Jenny, with her hair grown from the pixie cut she had once sported, a tired expression on her still bright face.

"Shalom Ziva. I remembered telling you once that I wanted to leave truth behind me once I die. I've tried to write letters to family and friends. To the people who know me best... but I find now, facing truth that the only one I know who I can actually speak it to is you. I'm dying. Ducky has confirmed it, but, we don't speak about it." A tear fell from her eye, the only one she would let escape from her finely upheld fiscade, "I haven't actually said the words until now. It didn't help. I never imagined a slow death.

"I remember when I got the offer, to be director of NCIS. I felt, hope. I thought that I could make all the changes that I knew needed to be made—had needed to be made since I was just a probie. I hope I made some difference there. I hope that I didn't just make things worse. Making it so personal … well it's one of the things I'm sorry for. One of many.

"I'm glad that you came with me Ziva. It was nice knowing that I wasn't alone, that there was someone there who I could count on to keep me grounded, keep me real. Someone with a quieter touch than Jethro."

She smiled, refilling her glass, "Remember that night we got drunk and you told me about that time you... and I told you about Paris? That was the first time I admitted that to anyone. Regrets of our lives. I remember what you told me then and I wonder now, after knowing us both, would your opinion be the same? Probably.

"Ziva, truth is, I see him in you, just as I see me in you. The best parts of us as agents, are you. Which is why I don't blame you for the truths that your father thinks he sees in you. I see a lot of Gibbs in _him_ too. Don't ever tell Gibbs I said that," she chuckled before growing serious again, "And don't forget my regrets. Don't let them be your own. Fast tracks are just that, they're fast. You get where you want to go but you are left without the journey or the detours or the bumps that make it interesting—that makes the destination worth getting to. Relish the journey, Ziva, where ever it takes you.

"And, take care of them. They need you as much as you need them. Goodbye Ziva, and remember that night. It was one of the funnest I've ever had."

Silence again filled the room. Gibbs took a slow, deep breath before turning, looking at Ziva, "Your sister's body with your necklace; a phone call from your dead boyfriend and now a farewell from a friend. What the hell is going on? Can we expect Ari next? That dead radiation guy you liked?"

She didn't look him in the eye, she couldn't. There was still things she could lose by telling, even though she knew that in reality, in the cold truth that she couldn't escape from, that what she was holding onto was already long lost. Still, she wanted to hold onto it a little while longer--hope. "No."

She was hiding something, he knew, and he was growing impatient. His gut was telling him that whatever was going on, was only going to get worse, "Then what? This isn't over?"

She felt her grip on it loosening... "No."

"Then what is coming next!"

It was starting to slip from her grasp. "A death."

"Whose?"

A final attempt to tighten her hold. "If we are lucky, only mine."

"Something tells me that this is nothing to do with luck."

He was prying her fingers loose. "Then he will start with someone else."

"To cause you pain?"

He was exposing it, tearing it from her, leaving her vulnerable to what would come next... "Yes."

"Who? One of us?" She nodded, knowing that it was over--that this was the moment, the moment from which she could never turn back. The moment that would bring the truth to light, and hope to death. "Who?"

"Probably Tony."

---

TBC... I'm really having fun with this. So much fun should be illegal. As long as it isn't immoral. That would just be cruel.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Totally not mine. So no suing or death threats required.

Author's Note: Holy hell, its been awhile. I'm sorry about that! Eek. Some times time is needed from an idea and a story. Sorry to say that this much time has gone by. But I am working on it. Although, I will admit, that I'm not sure where's its going to go.

Takes place in the seventh season. I apologize for anything that doesn't fit into the secret agent world, I'm not a special agent, or even a regular one.

Please r/r.

Once Mossad, Always Paranoid

Chapter 4

Gibbs sucked in a breath, but years of practice helped him hide his surprise at her words. He needed for her to tell him more, he wanted her to volunteer the information. But Abby was right, and a part of her still wasn't back with them — her trust was still long gone. Her father, Ari, Micheal, Tony and even he had betrayed it. She almost died because of it. Now he had to do it again to save her life. He only hoped that the end would justify the means and that, in time, she could forgive them all.

"Tony, take her to interrogation, and take her weapons."

"Boss?"

"Do it, DiNozzo."

With an apologetic shrug, he gestured for Ziva to lead the way, his hand lightly touching her arm the only sign that he was still on her side. But it was enough, and she understood. When they were out of sight, Gibbs turned to McGee, "Get into Mossad, get her case file."

"Proper channels or..."

"McGee! Do you really think they will let us access proper channels?"

Tim licked his lips, casting a glance to Vance, silently seeking his approval. With a silent nod, McGee was off, his fingers engaging in a war that he knew they would win. He didn't have another choice but to win.

"What now?" Director Vance asked Gibbs.

"We question her."

"Is she a suspect?"

"No. A victim."

"And the third degree?"

Turning as he had long been taught, Gibbs faced the Director, toe to toe, "She's trained to keep secrets and I need to know the truth. She knows who is behind this, and she needs to tell me. Someone is threatening my team Director, and I will find out whose doing it. Any means necessary."

-NCIS-

Tim joined Tony an hour later in observation. During that time McGee had managed to hack into Mossad's system, and copied the necessary files, after struggling with the language barrier that posed more of a problem than anything else that he did. That a foreign language was more of an issue to the agent than hacking into one of the most feared government agencies in the world, gave Tim both a sense of pride and unease.

"How's she holding up?" Tim asked, nodding to Ziva, who was pacing on the other side of the glass.

Tony shrugged, "Less good than she would have us believe," he confessed, looking at the younger man beside him for the first time, "Where's Gibbs?"

"Looking over the files with Ducky."

"You didn't read them?"

"No," he said with an embarrassed pause, "I couldn't bring myself to. Ziva kept secrets for a reason."

"Secrets are a dangerous thing."

Tim studied his friend for a long moment. He knew the expression that Tony wore well. He had seen it often over their partnership and friendship. Most of the time, he saw it while someone was in trouble, usually Ziva. The last time he had seen it, he and Tony both had ended up taken prisoner and tortured in Africa. "Hey, you okay?"

Tony looked back to Ziva as she paused and stared at the glass, right to where he was standing. Right into his eyes. He swallowed hard, even out of sight, she could see into him. "Yeah, just got a bad feeling."

"Mossad's out to kill you, and torture Ziva. I think your bad feeling's justified."

"Abby have anything?"

"Not yet. But, she's unlocked the door, at least."

"Good."

"Tony..."

Agent DiNozzo merely shook his head. Both knew that there was nothing that could be said in that moment that would do any good. Behind them the door opened and Ducky and Vance came in.

McGee looked between the three men before deciding that whatever was being said, whatever was to be discovered, he didn't need to know. Ziva, he reasoned, had been through enough as of late. Her secrets, he knew, were important. As was his opinion of her. He needed Ziva. He needed to know that, despite everything, she was still the same. That she wasn't broken. Knowing that the man that was the closest to her was trying to break her again, well, he hoped that his faith in her was well founded.

Tony watched Tim leave before looking back to the woman in interrogation.

"How is our Miss David holding up, Anthony?"

Tony could only smile, "She's ever the ninja, Duckman."

"Then why are you worried?"

"I know what's under the ninja-exterior, Ducky. I know what they're trying to do to her. Trying to break her down. I worry that they're using Gibbs to bring her closer to it than they could have themselves."

-NCIS-

Gibbs inhaled deeply before he entered interrogation, not meeting Ziva's eye as he gestured for her to sit.

"Gibbs..."

He held up his finger, stopping her short. He sighed, sitting, looking at his file.

Ziva paused, feeling frustrated with the entire affair. "Good reading?"

"Some. What we managed to translate."

She smiled, sitting down. "I take it McGee couldn't override Mossad's language features. It is a safe-guard used to prevent pertinent information being hacked. Highly classified information is written in a coded, offshoot of Hebrew."

"Explains why McGee's translation-program-thingy didn't work. You don't have to worry, there wasn't much that we learned from it. About you."

"Not much comfort, since I am here. And everyone else is there," she nodded to the glass.

Gibbs followed her gaze, "Not everyone's there."

"DiNozzo and Ducky are. Probably Vance."

"We're not here to talk about them. We're here to talk about you."

"I cannot tell you, Gibbs. Although my ties with Mossad are cut, I cannot betray what I know about them."

"Even at the cost of your life? Tony's life?"

Her eyes glanced to the glass, before meeting Gibbs' once more. "The more people know, the more they are at risk. Right now, it is only my life that is forfeit. I tell you what you want to know, you will all join me."

"You said that they would kill DiNozzo, I'd say that that's a little more than just your life. Start talking. Mossad wants you dead?"

"There is a saying in Mossad, that, translated, roughly says that all others come second, that Mossad is 'death do you part'. Not many operatives have lasting marriages because they are married, first, to their job."

"And you tried to leave."

"Yes. Considering my connections within the agency, as well as my intel and security clearance... it is a risk. One that they feel has already been breached."

"Already?"

"One of my contacts from Interpol told me that attacks on Mossad officers has recently increased, starting shortly after I was taken by Saleem. I believe they think that he broke me, or that I betrayed them."

"When did you find out?"

"Last week, shortly before the calls started. It is only natural for Mossad to suspect me."

"So your old coworkers are sent to clean up."

"I have been sent on many such missions. There are times when it is straight forward. A bullet, bomb, overdose. Others..."

"They're playing with you first. Why?"

"I can only assume that it is because my father is director. To do anything less than making an example of me, would be viewed as favouritism. It is what I would do."

Gibbs took out the cell phone, Ziva's cell phone, and set it on the table. "Lets start with the phone call. Who is David? Tony mentioned him calling you his sister. You said that he was Micheal's brother."

"Yes."

"Which is it?"

"Both."

"Ziva..."

"He is David Rivkin, Micheal's younger brother. He and I went through training together."

"Then why did he call you his sister?" He paused, looking the young woman over carefully, watching her expression, the way her eyes flicked to the glass before focusing on her hands. "Micheal was more than just your boyfriend, wasn't he?"

Her shoulders sagged. "Yes."

"You were going to marry him..."

-NCIS-

Okay... a cliffhanger of sorts. Yup, I'm that much of a dick. I have more written. It will be posted sooner rather than later.


End file.
